


Hell is empty and all the devils are here

by obfuscatedheart



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Fannibals Raise Hell, Fluff, M/M, Philosophising on the meaning of hell, Ravage Anthology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-16 05:44:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18088550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obfuscatedheart/pseuds/obfuscatedheart
Summary: Will and Hannibal discuss what hell means to them





	Hell is empty and all the devils are here

**Author's Note:**

> Written as part of the Ravage zine!
> 
> If you haven’t pledged yet please go ahead here: <https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lovecrimecat/ravage-an-infernal-hannibal-anthology>
> 
> Beta’d by [Cinnamaldeide](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinnamaldeide/pseuds/Cinnamaldeide) and [InsanelyWriteful](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsanelyWriteful/pseuds/InsanelyWriteful)

_ “Hell is empty and all the devils are here.” _

It’s the first thing that comes to him when he wakes. Will turns his head to the side, feeling the rasp of his hair against the pillowcase. 

Opening his eyes he thinks,  _ there he is. _

It’s apt almost that Hannibal looks so much like a fallen angel when deep in slumber. Proof that the devil is here, with him. 

He stretches slightly and immediately eyes are open and watching him in turn. 

“Hello,” Hannibal whispers after a long moment and he is smiling slightly. Will is incredibly envious of Hannibal’s ability to sound so alert moments after waking. “What has you so pensive?”

“Do you ever wonder about what hell would feel like?” 

Hannibal frowns slightly. “I don’t need to wonder. I know exactly what it feels like.”

Will watches him, he sees the flash of pain before Hannibal steels his features. Then his face softens again. That had taken a long time — for Hannibal to allow him to see his emotions even when he wasn’t looking for them. 

“It’s loneliness that cuts keener than any knife. One that steals your breath as it drowns you, incinerates you as you freeze. Like being turned into a pillar of salt because you dared to look back.”

“Why loneliness exactly?”

“Will do you really not know?”

He shakes his head. A hand goes to his cheek and strokes over it gently. 

“Leaving you was always like walking into hell. A reminder that the world around us is filled with all the wrong people.”

Will releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding. 

“So you see hell is always emptiness. We can surround ourselves with all the distractions there are. But hell is knowing that the right person is out there and you just can’t reach them.”

“I used to think that hell was starving. That feeling low in your stomach where nothing was quite enough to satiate it.”

“I know the feeling well.” Hannibal admits, and it feels like confession to Will. “And now?”

“Being left.”

Hannibal’s image becomes blurry, and it’s only when a thumb brushes his cheek and he feels the wetness there that he realises. 

“I’ve said it before. Regret is not an emotion I feel often, but sometimes it hits me square in the chest.” Hannibal’s voice is heavy and thick. 

Will takes Hannibal’s hand in his and brushes a dry kiss to the back. 

“Hell is empty and my favourite devil is here.”

Hannibal laughs freely and Will joins him. He likes this, he thinks; two devils whose hell is empty no more. 


End file.
